3.3. Effect of physico-chemical properties
Some physico-chemical parameters of mixtures of gasoline and ethanol were determined. A viscosity curve was obtained by measuring the sample solution in ethanol from 0 to 100% v/v, employing the C2 gasoline sample. With increasing amount of gasoline in the mixtures, the viscosity value decreased with a very good linear correlation coefficient (− 0.9987). Fortunately, the viscosity of the mixture 1:1 was very near that of the water. A value of 1.071 centipoise (cP) was obtained for the water, while 1.091 cP was obtained for the gasoline:ethanol mixture (1:1), indicating that calibration could be performed with aqueous standard solutions. The regression equation obtained was Y = 1.502 − 0.008x, where Y is the viscosity in cP and x is the volumetric percentage of gasoline in the mixture. It is known, that the viscosity is an important parameter that controls the kinetics of the release of the vapor from the solution. However, as the mercury vapor is collected after the vapor generation, the kinetic aspect is less important in our proposed method.